VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

Voice Of The People

April 17, 2007

Imus' employers

Regarding the Don Imus firing, could columnists and pundits please step back for a moment and stop confusing this with a legal "right to free speech" issue? On Sunday, Tribune columnist John Kass writes of a man who was handcuffed and arrested for refusing to remove sarcastic tombstones from his yard on Halloween despite there being no ordinance against fake, sarcastic Halloween decorations. That is a legal free speech issue. Imus was never arrested for anything. He was fired at his employers' discretion for making comments over public airwaves under their name. If I made such comments at work about my students, I would rightly be fired also. He is now free to go find a job elsewhere. To my knowledge slander and libel are still illegal (as in publicly labeling women "whores" who clearly are not prostitutes), but I don't see anyone bringing this point up in the media frenzy. We only hear insinuations that Imus' right to free speech was violated because he was criticized by people who have an equal right to speak freely, and fired by those whose company he represented. We are all free to spout idiotic comments. That does not mean our employers should be forced to pay us for it. Maybe Imus could find a job where he has a captive audience, such as barber or taxi driver.

Mary Beth Lang, Wheaton

Two wrongs

To all the editorial cartoonists defending Don Imus' remarks by comparing him to foul-mouthed rappers: Didn't your mother teach you that two wrongs don't make a right?